Weird problem with my legs! - YouLookFab Forum

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Weird problem with my legs!

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

I made a weird discovery last week. I wore my Express trousers to work without considering the weather and of course it was pouring rain in the afternoon. I wore my nude Fidjis with 1.5" heel and my trousers were a bit too long for them: I looked at my right leg while walking and my hem was soaked. Darn, I cannot wear these trousers with these shoes! Then I looked at my left hem and it was dry! How can it be? I came to my mom, told her and she though that maybe the hems were not even. However she measured them and they were the same - which means that my right leg is shorter than my left one.
You can see it in the picture where I wear my animal print booties with these trousers: they are PPL on the right leg and shorter on the left.
So now I have to hem all my trousers to make one leg shorter or longer - what a bother! Good I have my personal dressmaker to help with this!
Isn't it a weird discovery? Does anybody have the same problem?

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Dressing

29 replies

Latest reply was from

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I supposedly have one leg shorter than the other. I'm not sure if it's due to my mild scoliosis or that the difference caused it.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Hmm, it means I am not alone Anna. I wonder the same thing if my right leg is shorter because I have something wrong with my hip joint: I know it does not open as much as the left on when I am doing yoga.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

My left is shorter. My chiropractor confirmed it and I now pin up both pants hems separately before heading to the tailor. I also have a bigger right thigh, which brings that hem up ever so slightly as well, making the discrepancy bigger.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Mo, I have the same problem: bigger thigh on the longer leg. I wonder if muscles there have to work harder to compensate for the shorter leg...
Seems I am in a good company!:-)

Inge

(website)

My left leg is 0.5 cm shorter than my right leg, ever since I had a growing spurt at age eleven. The back specialist advised me to always add a 0.5 cm "lift" to the heel of my left shoes. I was very good about that until my early twenties. Then I stopped doing this, but since a few years I'm having back problems and I'm wondering if the issue was partly caused by this (I'm also wondering if the length difference has increased, I need to make an appointment with my doc:-)
It is quite annoying because trouser hemlines are never even, unless you have all your pants tailored or have the one shoe doctored...

MsMaven

Veteran

I suspected I had an imbalance and it was confirmed about 10 years ago when I developed bursitis in my left hip. The MD measured and my left leg is shorter than right. I'd always had the uneven hem problem.

Whenever possible, depending on the shoes, I wear a small pad in the left shoe. Even with that hems are uneven. Some pants I can get away with leaving them (but I could be wrong there) but with fuller pants I have them hemmed to different lengths. It is a major pain to have to do this, but I do it or have it done anyway. You have to make sure the tailors measure carefully--I've had some screw ups.

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

I've heard that sometimes it's because your hips aren't at the same height and that it's not necessarily your legs are different.

MsMaven

Veteran

Forgot to say: watch other women and you will see this is a common problem. It could also be caused by one hip being higher than the other.

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Wow, and I though I am kind of freak! Looks like a pretty common problem...
I have to measure the difference: if it is 0.5 cm maybe I can do heel inserts too but I think it is bigger than that.

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Yeah; usually it's a hip problem more than a leg length problem. My right leg is 1" longer.

Chrizzle

I also have one leg that is shorter than the other, confirmed by a doc when I was having severe back problems a couple of months ago. Getting chiropractic and targeted therapeutic massage treatments really helped with both the back pain and the length discrepancy. I've never noticed the leg-length difference affecting how my pants look, but now that you've mentioned it, I'm sure it does. I'm just going to try to ignore it, because I struggle enough with PPL as it is!

One of my shoulders is higher than the other too, which I notice most when I wear a camisole under a low-cut top. The line of the cami always slants to one side and it drives me crazy.

christieanne

Veteran

Me too - scoliosis.

My DH grandfather really did have one leg shorter than the other - but by 2 1/2". He had to have heels added to one shoe from childhood. But, he liked to tell a story of how he would challenge the other kids to foot races and would always beat them because he never let the leg slow him down. And he was the only one of 12 brothers and sisters who went to college (not good for farm work his dad said) and so it really never stopped him. Eternal optimist - I miss him!

K. Period.

Veteran

I think most people have one leg that is slightly shorter. However, it usually isn't too pronounced. I can always tell if I'm having something hemmed by a tailor with great attention to detail or one who does a workmanlike job, but not more. The great tailors always measure and pin both legs!

rae

(website)

Veteran

One of my hips is higher than the other, like Shannon said. I think I also wear one shoe heel faster than the other, though, so it eventually evens out!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Another scoliosis person here who has to have pants hemmed at two different lengths. About a half-inch difference. My physical therapist actually thinks it's not my leg lengths, but my hips (my whole torso, in fact) that are misaligned. Partially from scoliosis, and she speculates partially a residual effect of a busted tailbone years ago, which resulted in years of back pain and poor alignment and posture as a result.

I guess it's pretty common, after all!

Vicki

(website)

Veteran

I'm part of your group, too, Sveta, and I was told in my teens that one of my legs is shorter and now I'm not sure which one it is. So, this must be very common and thank goodness you have a personal dressmaker!

Sveta

(website)

Veteran

Oh, I am in a big company then! I also have my left shoulder higher than another one: I always thought it was a bad posture but now it looks like it all may be connected together: my higher shoulder is on the side when my leg is longer.
That really busts my theory that I got a problem with my hip with age and therefore different leg length: I had mu shoulders on different height since i was a teen.
Thanks for everybody who chimed in: I feel completely normal now!:-)

Isabel

Veteran

Yes, Sveta. Ever since I was a teenager I have had one leg hemmed 1/4 " shorter than the other.

celia

Veteran

Yep, my left leg is longer than the right one and the shape of the hip is different.
Without a proper seamstress around I hemm both legs the same and just tend to wear the waist in the right a little lower than the other.

Jonesy

Veteran

I think it's pretty normal for our bodies to be asymmetrical (e.g., different sized feet, one ear lower than the other, different ring sizes on each hand, etc. etc.) but it probably varies in terms of degree. Luckily you have your mom to perfectly tailor your pants for you :)!

Sara L.

Veteran

I have slight scoliosis also and one shoulder is higher than the other. I frequently have tops tailored to shorten one strap. I've never noticed if one leg is shorter than the other but now I want to check and see if the scoliosis affected my legs too.

sarah

Veteran

Sveta, it's things like this that want me to give up on wearing flares/bootcuts. PPL can be a real nightmare. Good luck!

Kirti

(website)

Veteran

I have two pretty differently sized feet which make shoe shopping a nightmare so I get where you are coming from!

Lyn D.

Veteran

Hi Sveta, I understand from my Chiropractor that this is fairly common and often fixed by a quick adjustment of the pelvis during a consultation.

Kate

Veteran

Add me to the list of women with one leg longer than the other. My tailor says it's a very common problem. I have the same issue with my sleeve length.

Deborah

Veteran

Apparently due to child birth my pelvis became "unbalanced" (Im sure there is a proper medical term) and I did't know until I started to experience some lower back pain. The Osteopath corrected it and now I regular checks to make sure it's as it should be. But this caused one leg to seem longer than the other :

BlondeAmbition

It's very common to be a bit asymmetrical. Sometimes it's just the way our bodies are made (most of us I'm sure have noticed that one foot may be a different size than the other or one breast might be smaller etc). Other times stress causes us to bunch up our muscles or repetitive motions can cause asymmetry in our bone or muscular structure.

I am thankful to have found an osteopathic doctor who practices manipulative medicine. If you haven't looked into osteopathy, do! It's a very gentle medicine that helps your body heal itself and they commonly use manipulative medicine to guide your skeletal structure into its rightful position, allowing excellent circulation and oxygen to travel. In the meantime, keep hemming those pants but I really like that trick of putting a little lift in the shoe too.

ManidipaM

Veteran

I know human beings are supposed to be bilaterally symmetrical but they're really not! Almost all of us have one leg shorter, one eye smaller, one boob bigger, one cheek fuller (yeah, that's both 'cheeks'), one wrist thicker, one ankle slimmer --- hey, I even have more waist curvature on one side than on the other!

Anonymous

Most people have one leg slightly longer than the other.